Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Preeclampsia

A lot of people may have heard about preeclampsia following Josie Duggar's extremely premature birth at only 25 weeks gestation, and wondered what this condition is.

According to the Preeclampsia Foundation,

"Preeclampsia is a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting at least 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. Swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and changes in vision are important symptoms; however, some women with rapidly advancing disease report few symptoms.

Typically, preeclampsia occurs after 20 weeks gestation (in the late 2nd or 3rd trimesters or middle to late pregnancy), though it can occur earlier. Proper prenatal care is essential to diagnose and manage preeclampsia. Preeclampsia, Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) and toxemia are closely related conditions. HELLP Syndrome and eclampsia are other manifestations of the same syndrome."

The website estimates it to "cost the US over $7 Billion alone" per year. The exact statistics are shocking. The FAQs offer answers to many questions about this condition, but the one I want to focus on in this post is the question: What causes preeclampsia? Can it be prevented?

First of all, I would like to say that I am not trying to "blame" anyone if they suffered preeclampsia, or any of its related conditions. I am not at all trying to say that it was their fault, or that they brought it on themselves. I am not saying that all cases are preventable. I am merely stating what I have learned and experienced from having had five healthy pregnancies and births (four at home), from reading about this subject in depth, and from learning from midwives and other natural birth supporters. Of course, I am no medical doctor, so please do not view this as medical advice. It is your responsibility, and yours only, to educate yourself about your health and that of those you love and care about. No doctor in the world will ever care more about your well-being than you yourself will.

Among most midwives, it is usually common knowledge that preeclampsia is caused by a lack of protein. It is, in short, a nutritional deficiency. They often admonish expectant moms to follow the "Brewer Pregnancy Diet", developed by Dr. Brewer, a doctor who long held that moms who followed this nutritional advice never got preeclampsia, and also warded off a whole host of other possible pregnancy-related issues. Please click here to go to a website that explains the diet in detail and offers much information and scientific backup.

The medical society, by and large, has rejected this explanation. Maybe it sounds too simple, but scurvy was caused by a lack of vitamin C, the plague was caused by a lack of sanitation, and child-bed fever was caused by doctors going from patient to patient without washing their hands. The solutions to all of these problems were discovered decades before they became standard practice, because they were all dismissed as being too ridiculous to accept. Or maybe, as in everything, the love of money is behind all this. Did you know that on average, 80% of hospital profits come from the labor and delivery department? I just learned that last week. Think about that for a minute. There's just not a whole lot of money in a normal, natural birth that doesn't require anyone to be there except mom and baby.

Some time back I read that there had been a study comparing the pregnancy outcomes of expectant moms on high protein diets, and moms who just ate a "normal" diet. There was no significant difference between the groups with regard to preeclampsia. However, it should be noted that the women in the study did not consume protein from whole foods (both animal and plant based), but rather from protein shakes. This study is largely responsible for most doctors dismissing the "protein deficiency theory". However, nutritionally speaking there is a massive difference between consuming whole foods, and consuming a highly-processed supplement.

In fact, many midwives have witnessed cases of beginning preeclampsia reversed after the mother made a conscious effort to eat an extremely high protein diet in an attempt to turn her condition around. Under careful monitoring, this is often successful, and definitely beats having to tear a baby out of the womb prematurely to save its life and that of the mother.

If you are pregnant, unless you are counting protein grams, you are probably not getting enough. And not just proteins, but proteins from different sources such as eggs, milk products, meat, beans, and whole grains. If you have a family history of preeclampsia, you should be extra careful to make every bite you eat while pregnant count.

The characteristic high blood pressure and swelling in the face and sometimes hands are late warning signs of preeclampsia. A much earlier warning sign is protein in the urine, a sign that the mother's body has started breaking down her own muscles and other protein stores in order to make it available to the baby. At this point, focusing on healthy proteins would almost always avert the full-blown condition in the mom. Unfortunately, most "pee sticks" that OBs offer at prenatals do not check for protein in the urine, whereas midwives use sticks that test for almost a dozen different warning signs that may be present in a sample.

The philosophies of doctors and midwives are vastly different in that the first will wait for a problem to crop up, and then go at it with the big guns, while the latter focus mostly on preventing any complications from arising in the first place.

Taking a prenatal is NOT a substitute for proper nutrition. In fact, it may make things worse. A recent study linked taking folic acid supplements during the last trimester to a number of adverse conditions in the babies, while consuming the same amount of folic acid in natural form (i.e. leafy greens, asparagus, whole grains, eggs) only showed beneficial effects.

In any case, eating healthily never hurt anyone, so the Brewer Pregnancy Diet can safely be recommended to all expectant moms.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Some thoughts on Switched-on-Schoolhouse and similar curricula

An important guest post from a dear friend:






As someone who went to Christian school from Kindergarten through my senior year, taught in a Christian school as an adult, and later homeschooled my own children for several years, I am familiar with the various curricula that are available for homeschooling families. There is no perfect curriculum, but there is one company in particular that I would like to warn parents about. It is the company that produces Switched-on-Schoolhouse (S.O.S.), LIFEPAC, HORIZONS, and WEAVER products.

I have read statements in the LIFEPACS about creation that seemed to be, in an underhanded way, actually making fun of God. Also the Horizon math books have word problems about purchasing religious icons including crosses as well as cheesy “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets at a Christian book store. Sometimes it was harder to put a finger on it, but the way things were worded, it just did not sound like the authors really believed in the biblical account of Creation that they sarcastically described. Switched-on-Schoolhouse, in earlier editions, used the King James Bible exclusively, so I used it for awhile for my older children in spite of other liberal content eg. referring to persecution by the Catholic Church as “Christians killing other Christians”, etc. I made the decision to use S.O.S. during a difficult pregnancy, because the work is done on the computer and there is no grading or record keeping to do since it is done automatically. Anyway, for our last year of homeschooling, I ended up switching to mostly Abeka Books which at least comes from an independent Baptist college where hopefully most people believe in the existence of God.

Circumstances changed, and I enrolled my daughter in a public high school for her sophomore year. Although she was able to transfer some of her homeschool credits and challenge other classes by “testing out” of them, she was required to take a credit recovery class for Biology which is done on the computer. The name of the software she works on for that class is Odysseyware. To her surprise, the format was exactly the same as the Switched-on-Schoolhouse software she had used for science while home schooling during her junior high years! The work was easy for her, since it was almost identical to Switched-on-Schoolhouse. There was only one difference--the Odysseyware Biology course taught evolution, whereas the Switched-on-Schoolhouse course left out the evolution and instead mentioned Creation. Also, a few Bible verses were thrown in here and there for the Christian version. After a quick Google search, our suspicions were confirmed that Odysseyware is the same company as Odyssey Learning Services/Alpha Omega Publications which produces Switched-on-Schoolhouse (S.O.S.), LIFEPAC, HORIZONS, and WEAVER products. If you are homeschooling, it is probably because you do not want your children taught by unbelievers, but if you use any of these “Christian” brands, who do you think is teaching your children? The authors claim to be Christians from a “Bible church“, but why are they teaching evolution as fact? Evolution can be a major stumbling block to many public school students who do not go to church and are not taught the Bible at home.


2 Peter 2:14-15
(14) Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
(15) Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;




1 Timothy 6:10
(10) For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.




An Independent Fundamental Baptist Mom in Texas


[end of guest post]
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The website of Glynlyon, the parent company of both Alpha Omega Publications (the "Christian" version) and Odysseyware (the "public school", evolution-based version), confirms:

The Glynlyon Learning Companies are dedicated to the development and adoption of effective modalities of learning through tools, curricula, multimedia techniques, and various delivery strategies designed to best educate students regardless of their learning styles. ODYSSEYWARE® provides an electronic curriculum for grades 3-12. Alpha Omega Publications® provides Christian curriculum for grades kindergarten-12, including print and electronic options.

I for one certainly do not want my children to be taught by people who believe one thing, but teach both what they believe, as well as the opposite of it, for maximum financial gain.

The authors of these books either believe in creation, but lie and promote the false and erroneous teachings of evolution to increase profits.

Or, they really do believe in evolution, while passing themselves off as Christian publishers, making themselves false prophets and wolves in sheep's clothing, and again lying for financial gain. Besides, "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge," so these people are also ignorant and in no position to be teaching anyone.

If you are equally disturbed by this, please pass this information on to other homeschoolers who most likely are not aware of the true nature of this publisher, many of whom would be appalled to find out the truth.


Friday, March 5, 2010

TV Turnoff Resources

I found this helpful list on another blog. There is a lot of great info, as well as some shocking statistics, on many of these sites.